The Mayor has a lot of power but on London’s roads he often has to share that power with local authorities. It was noticeable that TfL's Friday ‘cycle-superhighways’ press release was immediately followed by a bucket of cold water from the body representing London's boroughs:

London Councils welcomes the initiative to encourage more people to cycle but is calling for assurances from TfL that:- It will work with all the boroughs on the pilot routes to find the best way of implementing each cycle superhighway- Sufficient funding is provided by TfL to the boroughs to make sure the cycle superhighways are of good quality and can be well maintained in the future- The implementation of the highways will be accompanied by support for measures to improve safety for cyclists on surrounding roads. Concerns about road safety and a lack of cycle parking are two issues which deter people from getting on their bikes.

There’s a great deal of sour commentary on cycle comment threads. Two that stand out are these:

Reading the details…why should ASLs be relevant? So it is little more than a rebranding of existing infrastructure with minor additions to improve continuity (rather like the NCN).

The much heralded "cycle super-highways" are already starting to look like a cobbled-together compromise, with the best bits matching Camden/Holborn's ludicrous "two-way" lanes, rather than anything you'd see on the continent.

As far as the London Borough of Waltham Forest is concerned, we don't get a cycle super-highway. Presumably things are so good here already we don't need one.

(Below) Ironically, this projection shows a bus in the blue cycle super-highway. No different to how things are now, then. And the cyclist is decked out in a bright yellow luminous jacket because, after all, blue is a very difficult colour for drivers to notice.